


Partners

by chrissy_sky



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, Short One Shot, Slash, a subplot that isn't really gone into
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-24 16:24:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3775372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrissy_sky/pseuds/chrissy_sky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neville's inner thoughts about his new partner. Also a demon summoning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partners

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: “That is the tenth demon summoning this week holy shit.” - Harry Potter  
> For Anon! If you'd like to come forward and say it was you, and you have an AO3 account, I can tag your sn with this.
> 
> Has not been Brit-picked. I apologize if any of my word choices bother you. I recently fell in love with this pairing and I had to give it a shot with this prompt. Thanks for reading!

-

“Holy shit. That is the tenth demon summoning this week," Draco grumbled as he attempted to magic the slime off his robes. 

Demon blood was naturally resistant to magic, though, and the young Malfoy was having a time of it. Neville, his partner, watched with a vague sense of amusement as he watched Draco grow more and more irritated. 

No one expected their partnership to work when the Minister gave them their new assignments. Not only had many of Draco's other partnerships in the Aurors blown up in everyone's faces (quite literally during the week that Harry and Draco shared a desk), but Neville was still looked upon as a leader of the Light side. Harry was the one that spoke up in defense of Draco and his mother, while Neville had just tried to keep his head above the flood of the post-war chaos, only urging everyone else to keep a level head.

Neville himself had assumed the worst as well, though promised himself that he would at least be fair to Draco. He'd managed to get through training and join the Aurors the same as the rest of them had, but with the stakes much higher against him. He'd seen first hand, in some cases, how unfairly Draco was treated during training. But the young pureblood had persevered with a snarky single-mindedness that reminded Neville a lot of their old Potions master--at least from what Harry had reported and when Neville finally managed to look at the man's actions objectively. 

(Which had been so much harder for Neville to do with Snape than it was with Draco. Draco's primary focus in school had been bullying Harry. Draco only casually tormented other students, in a way that Neville saw now as objectively benign as opposed to the things Draco and Harry had done to each other for the sake of their rivalry.) 

Yet, despite expectation of pretty much everyone, it was working out. Neville not only saw how hard Draco worked, but how much he had change. (Despite Draco's own protestations to the contrary.) The sass and sarcasm weren't different--they were still as sharp and mean as ever. Though Draco sometimes said things that were hurtful, Neville learned to read behind the words and noticed that the anger or irritation wasn't really directed at him. 

Neville also gave as good as he got, which seemed to impress Draco in return. His growing respect for the blond made him want to interfere more when he saw how others gave him a hard time, but Neville learned quickly that Draco didn't always take it well. He was still learning a balance between when it was good to help and when to let his partner fight his own battles. 

Smiling fondly, Neville walked closer to help the cleaning effort and together they managed to get most of it off. 

Draco hummed, his nose wrinkling a bit less. "Our magic does seem to work well together, doesn't it? Odd."

Neville grinned at the words, elated. "That's probably because we ourselves work good together."

Draco raised one thin, haughty eyebrow. "Just _good_? I think that could do with an upgrade." 

Neville laughed softly though he didn't disagree. The humor helped dissolve the horrible image in his recent memory of the latest demon summoning they had foiled. 

Draco sighed and hooked his arm around Neville's. "We're finished here, let's head back to the Ministry."

Neville hummed in agreement. "All that paperwork we still have to do."

The blond sagged against him, just enough that Neville felt his body through their robes. "I don't suppose I can convince you to fill out mine while I take a nap?"

He grinned. "I'm sure we can figure out something."

Yes, they were getting along _very_ well these days.

Beaming, Draco Apparated them back to the Ministry. 


End file.
